Chimera Moments
by Coffeetailor
Summary: A series of oneshot sidestories for my A Thief in One Life, A Thief in the Next universe just before Ice Maiden's Mulberry Tree. Unless stated otherwisethey will be in chronological order.2x1 3x4 KuwaYukina KuramaHiei
1. Koorime to Circus Clowns

A/N: This is the first in a series of one-shot side-stories for my "A Thief in One Life, A Thief in the Next" universe just before "Ice Maiden's Mulberry Tree." Unless stated otherwise, they will be in chronological order. Hope you like them.

"Koorime to Circus Clowns"

When Agent Minamino swore the labs to secrecy, Une had started to grow suspicious. When he began spending large amounts of time with the scientists that came from L2, a colony she now knew to have connections to the Makai, she grew even more suspicious. When said scientists delivered a large, sealed envelope to Minamino's hands directly, one of them addressing him as 'uncle,' she started to worry. By the time his sister-in-law showed up in the office and locked herself in with her kin as well as the other pilots, Une was tempted to call the bomb squad and work her way up from there. They were up to something, and she was sure she wouldn't look it.

Duo was cackling. Not laughing, snickering, giggling, or chortling, but cackling. That alone served as a good warning that something… odd was about to happen. Odd coupled with a happy Duo and an amused Kurama generally did not equate to good things.

"What did you need to tell us that required all of us to be present?" Wufei asked, a little cross that he'd been interrupted during his lunch break.

The two youkai brothers had identical smiles, and it made the human pilots nervous. Well, not Heero, but he'd been in on whatever his mate had been up to. That fact hadn't been kept secret.

"Well," Duo said, drawing out the world. "We don't actually _need_ all of you to be here, just Trowa. But Yukina thought it'd be nice to invite Quatre, since they're married and all, and it'd be rude to not invite just one of the pilots. So you're all here! Oh yeah, and Catherine Bloom should be here any minute."

They couldn't get the Youko Clan members to reveal anything more until the mentioned curly-haired woman entered the office, accompanied by her wife.

"Okay, what did you want us here for, Maxwell?" Dorothy said, raising a forked eyebrow.

Seeing that all of his intended audience was present, Duo leapt up from the desk he'd been sitting on. "Alright, who here knows about Koenma's pet project?"

Only Hiei, Kurama and Heero raised their hands, clearly humoring the chimera, who grinned in satisfaction. Hiei snorted. "Just get on with it, baka chimera."

"Don't rush me, little brother," Duo said, sticking his tongue out at the hikoorime. "Anyway, part of the project included searching the data-bases for the descendants of one Kuwabara Hina."

Yukina's eyes widened. "You- you found my grandchildren?"

"We found two, a pair of siblings," Kurama said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "And it will be amazingly easy to contact them."

"Maxwell, if this is one of your pranks…" Trowa trailed off, locking green eyes with violet. It was clear who the former thieves were referring to.

"Ah, don't be so mean, Tro," Duo said. He winked. "You know that I'm going to be your favorite uncle."

"So, you're my many time great grandmother?" Catherine asked Yukina cautiously, her wife holding her hand tightly for support.

The koorime's eyes were damp, and she caught the two tears that fell. "I guess so. Hina's grandchildren… I never would have thought that I'd see you." She pressed one of the blue gems into the woman's hand. "You should have been given one of these at the time of your birth. Welcome to the family."

Catherine swept her ancestor into a hug before fixing Duo with a look. "I am _not_ calling your uncle."

When they left the room it was to find Une and Sally sitting on the floor in shock, both pale. Une held a glass limply in one hand while the doctor's stethoscope still hung from her ears.

"You really shouldn't eavesdrop, Lady Une," Heero scolded with a smirk. "Though we'll be needing to update the records for Trowa's family."

"I never should have allowed you within fifty miles of the Preventors," she said, glowering up at the pilots. "My life was steadier during the war when we were enemies."

When word had spread, most agents found themselves agreeing with her.


	2. Family Tree in the Parking Lot

A/N: Second in the set. In which Duo freaks out the Preventors.

"Family Tree in the Parking Lot"

Someone had made the mistake of giving Duo a tub of sidewalk chalk for Christmas. Then they gave him an extra long lunch break on a sunny day when the parking lot was nearly empty due to the fact that most of the employees were still on vacation elsewhere. Last but not least, they left him alone and unsupervised.

When agents began drifting back to Head Quarters, they found the way blocked by the sprawled out figure of Duo Maxwell, who lay on his stomach drawing what looked like a family tree directly onto the pavement.

"When did Maxwell get such an extended family?" one of the agents asked his partner, a worried look on his face. Wasn't one of them bad enough?

"My guess is when Une found the legal adoption papers back 'behind a filing cabinet,'" the other man said dryly, trying to make sense of the odd writings the braided agent had written in red next to select names, his own included. "Looks like the only ones actually related to him by blood are dead though."

"Yep, those're Mom and Dad, long time dead and gone," Maxwell piped up cheerfully, drawing another x-eyed smiley face by the name Kuwabara Shizuru.

They watched in horrified curiosity as the senior agent drew a line down from 'Yukina' and 'Kuwabara Kazuma,' adding a daughter, 'Hina,' who married an 'Edward Bloom.'

Bloom. The name rang a definite bell in their heads. As it connected, the blood started to drain from their collective faces.

"Agent Barton's real name," the first speaker whispered.

"Turns out he's a distant nephew," Maxwell said, still not looking up as he added both Trowa and his sister down at the bottom of a many times crossed line that went down from Hina and Edward. Someone in the crowd swore when Quatre's name was added as Trowa's husband, followed by all twenty-nine Winner sisters, their husbands, and their children, one of which was the fiancé of none other than Relena Peacecraft. The Lightening Count and his wife were added next to the pacifist politician before Duo bounced back to where he'd left Catherine Bloom's name hanging.

If had been certainly an interesting day for the pilots when Dorothy Catolina had marched into Trowa and Quatre's office, boldly sitting on the taller agent's desk as she informed him that she was dating his sister whether he liked it or not. She'd done much of the same when announcing their engagement, only this time it was with a wedding invitation in hand.

Catolina's family branched off to include Trieze and his daughter, who led through her mother to the original Trowa Barton. Even Une, having legally adopted Mariemaea, made it onto the complicated web.

A second, much smaller, family tree floated separate from the massive Maxwell clan, right above the Kuwabara/Bloom section. A couple agents chuckled when they noticed Chang's name written next to Urimeshi Atsuka, a young woman rumor said had managed to snare the widower. They were connected by a squiggly line that they took to mean 'dating but unwed.' An arrow pointed from her father's name as well as three others in the red writings, joining together to indicate Kuwabara Kazuma. They groaned. So that family was connect too.

"Is it just me, or is Duo Maxwell connected to every power house in the United Sphere?" one female agent asked blandly as Maxwell finally stood up and put his stick of chalk back into his bucket before dusting his hands off and proudly surveying his work.

It was then that Maxwell's phone rang. Giving the crowd a raised eyebrow as though he'd just noticed them, he answered. "Maxwell." … "Oh, hey big brother." Agent Minamino then. From the usual loudmouth's long silence, it would seem that his adopted brother had a lot to say, and it was definitely good news. "I'll tell Heero and the guys and meet you two in the front. Five minutes tops."

Ending the call, Duo let out a loud 'whoop,' startling more than a few agents. Dancing with glee, he swooped down to grab a stick of green chalk, which was used to cross out the dead smiley next to Kuwabara Kazuma's name.

"Agent Maxwell?" an intern asked, stuttering with wide eyes. "I thought you'd marked him dead."

"Since before even Trowa's parents were born, year," the braided man agreed, grinning as he replaced the chalk and closed the bucket, picking it up top head inside.

"Then why'd you just cross out the mark?" another man from the trainee squad asked.

The crowd would forever remember the slow, malicious smile that grew on Shinigami's face, and it would forever cause them to shiver. "An hour ago, Kuwabara Kazuma, husband to my brother's mate's sister, snored."


End file.
